#RPGaDay2025 - Day 15 - Deceive

 Day 15 of #RPGaDay is "Deceive." 

The most memorable deception was one of those tropes you can only pull off once a decade or two... "You're all dead....psych!"

The Tragedy at Elwyn's Sanctuary

Early on in my college D&D group, with eleven of us in the basement of the dorm on a Saturday night, the party got their first upgrade from job to "mission."  The Archbishop of Hydincall, the highest ranking member of the Church of Akana, assigned them with the task of recovering a holy relic, the Bell of Chardastes, from a rogue cleric hiding in their stronghold within the Nightwood Forest.  

It seemed like a solid adventure... and a tough enough go through the Nightwood that the PCs sent the henchmen, including the 9-year old torchbearer, Timmy home.

It was a wise move, for although the encounters throughout stronghold were easily dispatched, the final encounter with Elwyn the Ardent, and their black freaking dragon was too much, even with Basic D&D states in an AD&D game.  

And one by one... they dropped.   

When Talis Makolin, getting crushed by the dragon's claw, succumbed to his injuries.  I simply said "Everything goes dark, see you guys next week," and cleaned up my dice and books.  

It was a fun week at college, and from my non-college friends through e-mail, as they went through the various stages of grief and tried to roll up new characters. 

The next Saturday:

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"Apparently we are not quite dead yet." - Echelon

Echelon was the first to wake. Correction, Pathfinder the wolf was the first to wake up, immediately seeking out his human companion. A few licks to the face and the cleric of Tshang Hai Shing awoke to a weird hazy realm of white fog with an red light illuminating everything in the distance. The others were tossed about in this area. If it was the afterlife, the gods and mythologies were apparently all the same. Most survived.

Rolf Wolfsblood: Bald-headed barbarian from the Plains of Galmar
Kane: Student of Eastern mysticism, controller of water.
Ashe - highly skilled elven ranger
Maloran Alberhold - human fighter, ladies man sans charisma.
Talis Makolin - a rakish bard avec charisma
Echelon - a pigeon loving priest of an eastern god of the sea, escorted by his charmed wolf, Pathfinder. Perhaps it was wise that his henchman, Carthon, and lovable village orphan, Timmy, were back at the Village of Eding.
Velandro - a pious priest of Akana

The newest members to the party, Odrune and Meudsopu, were gone. All the grievous wounds received at the hands of the statue, the dark warrior, and the black dragon, were visibly gone, but they were all in a tremendous amount of pain and soreness.

But they were alive...

An ethereal being descended through the mist towards them. Everyone had weapons in hand, but no one readied to fight.

"I am the goddess Thendara, protector of the Valley of Haven. But alas, the peace and prosperity of my domain has been overrun by evil and I must beg for assistance."

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The whole "plucked from death's door by a powerful entity" should be done sparingly, if ever, but it was the recommended plot device for to connect some of the modules in B1-9 In Search of Adventure collection.  Two of the players switched over to the Thursday night game, but that I was sending 7 PCs (and a wolf companion) through the meat of B3 Palace of the Silver Princess,  and a multiple session storyline that involved meeting a powerful mage, reuniting with a long-lost mentor, stopping a minor god, stopping a wedding, and finally ending it with successfully slaying a different dragon B5 Horror on the Hill.  I saw the set-up was worth it.